Dinghy Day

 Sunday, January 3, 2021 Day 29 of our trip. Dinghy Day. A day that may live in infamy.

I was up early and had some coffee. I have been very hung up over the tender. Will it work? How long will it take for us to learn to lower and raise the dinghy in a reasonable time? So many new issues with the dinghy: what is its condition? difficult to inflate? issues getting it over the side with the electric hoist? does the hoist work well? getting into the tender (also known as a dinghy), from the swim platform? getting out of it ? returning the tender to the top of the boat? using the electric motor?. Today is D (dingy) Day 1/3/2021.

It took us 1 1/2 hours to get the tender over the side. First, it had to be inflated. Then; we had to figure out how the hoist works; how to get the tender through and around the other wires and ropes, (one broke while we were proceeding); several parts of the dinghy seem like they they have had a long, hard, life and may need to be replaced. 

My guess is that the tender had been heavily used in the past but not attended to for quite a while. We had several other glitches along the way: we needed to find the right keys to the storage units holding the motor parts, the kill switch ((a safety device that cuts off the motor if the tender captain falls overboard), and parts for the motor, and on and on. We decided to give it a go even though we hadn't found the wooden seat for the dinghy.

After a lot of creaking and noise,we got the crane to lift the tender over the side and lowered it to the water. Roland brought it around to the swim platform. And then I was supposed to go aboard. It was not quite as rocky or problematic as I thought it might be. But it wasn't simple either. Now that we were both in the dinghy, Roland turned on the motor. The motor moved slowly, it was very reluctant to operate. We knew the batteries had been fully charged, so why was the engine not operating properly? Going slowly (is this the way it was to be?); neither of us had any experience with a marine electric engine. We did motor us over to Magnolia, which was the Kadey Krogan 42, that had anchored nearby yesterday.

We had a lovely visit with the Anthony and Annette; we were in the tender and they were on their boat. They have been living a board Magnolia, and the previous Magnolia, their sailboat, for 13 years. They have a lot of experience and we had a lot of questions. They were very kind and helpful.

Small world: in the summer, they live aboard for awhile in Hartge Harbor Marina, in Galesville, MD (my sister's marina, and from where we had the renaming ceremony and started our vogage). Annette had, in mid-September overheard my sister speaking to someone else at the marina about the fact that Roland and I were looking at a Kadey Krogan. Annette had told my sister how much she loves her boat and had given my sister her about card. She didn't remember while we were in the dinghy, but she thought about it and recalled later. Weird that she “knew” us since September.

We had to end our discussion because the rain storm was coming and we needed to get back to the boat and get the dinghy back on Magic Moments.

We try to start the engine again and that was the end of that. It did not work at all, even at the slow speed it had operated when we took it over to Magnolia. So poor Roland, although we were not that far away had to row on his knees (remember, we left without finding the wooden seat) all the way back to the boat. We also had to get the tender up on the top of the boat before the rain got really bad.

Well we were happy that we managed to the extent that we managed. Unfortunately we do not know whether the engine will ever work again. People who are boaters must love the challenge of solving these endless issues that crop up everyday!

After 1 o'clock, the storm had moved on, and Roland wanted us to move to the south side of the Addison Point Bridge, aka the NASA Causeway Bridge. No opening required for us as it was 27 feet and we are 25.

After anchoring on the south side, we enjoy a quiet evening and a nice dinner of fish and brussels sprouts. We plan to leave at 8:45 AM tomorrow. It is a little disconcerting to know we don't have a tender engine. I am not sure (my name is not Michael), I am in good enough shape to row the boat to shore.